


Back to the Meaning of Wolf and Man

by ficanicbasket



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Background pack mentions, Fluff with a side of feelings, Gen, M/M, Not Beta Read, Not Quite Gen, Or is it feelings with a side of fluff, POV Derek, Song fic-ish, could be read as slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-03
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ficanicbasket/pseuds/ficanicbasket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek can guess Stiles's moods by his music -- often obnoxiously wolf-themed.  But tonight he's confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back to the Meaning of Wolf and Man

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read because I often write these on spur of the moment and never believe it's good enough to actually send to a specific person for beta-ing. The fear of hearing from someone that it definitely sucks, you know?
> 
> This happened because NIN came up on my iPod and I wondered what Derek would do if he heard Stiles singing "I wanna fuck you like an animal." Then feelings rudely interrupted, as they do.

There are days when Derek knows Stiles is in a good mood: When he is yet again roped into driving hungry werewolves for food the moment he sets foot on Hale property and he plays “Hungry Like a Wolf” (and, secretly, Derek has to give Stiles props for knowing music made before 2000 and – even better – enjoying it in a non-ironic sense despite his skinny hipster jeans, even if Derek feels obliged to roll his eyes and fixedly ignore the grinning teen). When he and Team Human are waiting at the house with the noise of “Werewolves of London”, waiting for the pack to return muddy and triumphant, just waiting for the chorus of “AWOOOooooOOOO” to come floating through the mists and the trees (inevitably, a contest starts of who has the better howl, and Isaac and Scott will start gamboling around like the carefree young adults they should be. Lydia always wins, because she’s Lydia. It doesn’t matter if she’s not a werewolf, she overachieves at everything.). When he’s bobbing his head and bouncing his leg to “Howl”, the sound bleeding from his headphones, focused on using Google for his latest research task because he’s desperately hoping the next page of search results will provide something so he doesn’t have to talk to Peter or Chris Argent – or, worse, having to talk to them both – and begins to grin and sing and fist pump. Chris Argent doesn’t get any less scary even if you’re not dating his daughter, so it’s a good thing the rhythm puts Stiles in such a good thinking place, even if it’s not quite the happiest song.

Derek is a bit baffled by this song, though. NIN’s “Closer” isn’t something that fits the bright and sparkling kid. There’s always twists of darkness to Stiles… Sometimes the babble distracts from the varied worries, angers, or insecurities, and other times, more often now that the Monster of the Week has become more the Monster of the Month, the face Stiles shows actually matches what his body language and scent are showing. This song, though, is aggressive and dark, and it could either be intensely sexual or intensely angry. Derek knows which way he really wants this to go, even if he has no idea how he would actually deal with that. Hopping up to the window, Derek can see Stiles is flailing around in his room… and that he’s tossing paper and kicking the eternal piles of unwashed laundry that litter every teen’s bedroom.

Ok. So. Not so much with choice #1 then.

The song is ending, and Derek watches as Stiles takes a deep breath, shoulders and head making a large sweep. Stiles flicks to another song on his computer, and Derek listens to more crunching guitars and driving drums as… really? Metallica? He could swear that Stiles’s musical preferences laid more in the “Call Me Maybe”/One Direction vein, so where did this come from? Returning his attention to the figure, he sees that Stiles has somehow produced a blue wig from somewhere (…has he been visiting the drag queens again? If so, Derek should thank them, because the blue complements the light brown eyes well), plopped it on his head, and is now head-banging. Enthusiastically. Happily? Maybe the NIN explosion was frustration relief? Oh Christ, too enthusiastically, as Stiles almost clocks himself on his desk and a wall and trips over the clothes he’d been kicking earlier.

Derek snorts with laughter and promptly falls backward off the roof.

It hasn’t been his best day ever.

Stiles apparently noticed the loud thud of the muscled mass hitting the ground and the following, restrained because Mrs. Finnegan next door is nosy, “OOF”, because he is opening and poking out his head. Derek and Stiles stare into each other’s eyes before Stiles’s face goes through brief spasms and settles into fully body, mouth wide open laughter. The wig falls forward over Stiles’s face, to be plucked off and thrown at Derek with a “Whaaaaaaaaaaat even?!” and more cackles.  
Derek snatches up the wig that has landed on his chest, glares at the face in the window, tilts his nose in the air, and attempts to walk into the tree line with dignity. He can still hear Stiles laughing, redoubled with his new coiffure, so he turns around to mock glare at his taunter. He can’t help that his lips turn up to match the smile he’s seeing.

Derek gets a text message shortly thereafter.  
 _Did u need sumthing or did u just want to creep around teens’ bedrooms creeperwolf_  
 _NIN? Metallica? Having an emo day, are we?_  
 _Whateva. Im in high school Im supposed to be emo._

\--------------------------

On returning to the house, Derek sends Stiles a photo of a relatively unamused Boyd wearing the wig, with the caption “Someone else is feeling blue, too.”  
Stiles never does get the wig back, because the wig serves as a convenient “I’m having a bad day don’t fuck with me” symbol for the unruly pack. Wearing a goofy wig is worlds better than the cranky werewolf habit of literally biting someone because no one actually feels better after biting someone they’re still going to have to deal with every day.

Jackson ends up wearing it the most. No one is surprised. But Stiles also won’t forget on his blue days the experience of seeing Derek wear it.

**Author's Note:**

> Duran Duran -- Hungry Like a Wolf  
> Warren Zevo -- Werewolves of London  
> Florence and the Machine -- Lungs  
> Nine Inch Nails -- Closer  
> Metallica -- Of Wolf and Man
> 
> How did "I'll just tap out a short few paragraphs in 20 minutes" become almost 900 words? This is why Twitter and I don't get along. Character limits, ugh.


End file.
